Ms. Kezang Wangmo, a 26 years old Bhutanese young lady has a eye-related problem that is a mouthful to pronounce. The ailment is called – Keratoconus. Try and pronounce that!
Ms. Kezang Wangmo - young and vivacious but Keratoconus bound!
Wikepedia describes Keratoconus thus:
Keratoconus (KC) is a disorder of the eye which results in progressive thinning of the cornea. This may result in blurry vision, double vision, nearsightedness, astigmatism and light sensitivity. Usually both eyes are affected. In more severe cases a scarring or a circle may be seen within the cornea. While it occurs in all populations, it may be more frequent in certain ethnic groups such as those of Asian descent.
Keratoconus
The girl approached the Rotary Club of Thimphu to help her correct the problem. However, the Club’s long established policy is that we do not take on individual cases. Regardless I happen to have a good friend in Dhaka, Bangladesh who is the Managing Director of one of the region’s best eye hospitals called Bangladesh Eye Hospital.
I contacted the good doctor for help, and he promptly agreed to perform the procedure needed - called CXL - absolutely free of cost. Not only that, he also agreed that his hospital would provide a guest room at a concessional daily charge of only Nu.1,000.00 per night. Over and above that, he would send someone over to pick up the girl and her husband from the airport. This is Rotary spirit at its highest - Dr. Niaz Abdur Rahman, Consultant Vitreo-Retina Surgeon & Managing Director of Bangladesh Eye Hospital, Dhaka is a Rotarian.
So, the cost of the procedure has been duly taken care of. Next hurdle was the cost of air ticket to travel to Dhaka and back. The girl and her husband are not financially capable for the reason for which she contacted us for help. So we then wrote to the national flag carrier - Druk Air for help. They readily agreed to issue two complementary round trip air tickets to the girl and her husband - in partial fulfillment of their CSR. In that respect, Druk Air has always been forth coming - we congratulate them for their sense of social responsibility, as the country's national flag carrier.
Now it is all systems go - every thing is in place and the girl will soon be traveling to Dhaka to save her eye sights. She has problem in both her eyes.
Deliverance from darkness is what I call this. A worthy humanitarian Rotary project.
I contacted the good doctor for help, and he promptly agreed to perform the procedure needed - called CXL - absolutely free of cost. Not only that, he also agreed that his hospital would provide a guest room at a concessional daily charge of only Nu.1,000.00 per night. Over and above that, he would send someone over to pick up the girl and her husband from the airport. This is Rotary spirit at its highest - Dr. Niaz Abdur Rahman, Consultant Vitreo-Retina Surgeon & Managing Director of Bangladesh Eye Hospital, Dhaka is a Rotarian.
So, the cost of the procedure has been duly taken care of. Next hurdle was the cost of air ticket to travel to Dhaka and back. The girl and her husband are not financially capable for the reason for which she contacted us for help. So we then wrote to the national flag carrier - Druk Air for help. They readily agreed to issue two complementary round trip air tickets to the girl and her husband - in partial fulfillment of their CSR. In that respect, Druk Air has always been forth coming - we congratulate them for their sense of social responsibility, as the country's national flag carrier.
Now it is all systems go - every thing is in place and the girl will soon be traveling to Dhaka to save her eye sights. She has problem in both her eyes.
Deliverance from darkness is what I call this. A worthy humanitarian Rotary project.
Well done sir.
ReplyDeleteThis is absolutely genuine and what Rotary Club thimphu doing now is very humble and great. Salute to your powerful write-ups to your docotor friend and to drukair for making them understand the situation. Urgent!
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